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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27854186">Touch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceralComa/pseuds/VisceralComa'>VisceralComa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Good clean fun, M/M, Sensory Deprivation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:40:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27854186</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisceralComa/pseuds/VisceralComa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of becoming more human is that Cole is given the full sensory experiences of a human - but the problem is... it’s too much. Until he finds help</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cole/Cullen Rutherford</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Touch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He was sinking - <em>suffocating</em>. It was too many, too loud, too much. Senses blown - over stimulated. His skin shriveled and he gasped as he tried to find purchase, gripping the walls. He was too far from the White Spire now but he looked for something similar, something dark and dusty and cold. So cold it would numb and cut the sound and sense.</p><p>“Cole?” Cullen’s voice broke through. Strong, stilling, solemn. “Are you alright?”</p><p>Cole shivered and shook, a deep wailing moan spilling from his mouth searched for a word. “No.” Simple yet inadequate.</p><p>“Come here.” His grip pulled him along, guiding him - not to the White Spire but to something similar. To his spire - his tower - his solemn place of vigil and self repentance. Cole should know, he used to be able to read what went on in there - now... now he couldn’t. Not with everything. Light, color, and sound.  It was too much - it hurt and burst. The wind, the chatter, and no silence - no breath.</p><p>“Hey.” Cullen pulled him back to himself. Bare hand on his bare wrist. Cole eyed the contact, wide eyed - unbothered but concentrating.</p><p>Yes.</p><p>Cullen was a smooth stone skipping across the surface of water, dipping just below enough to ripple. Cole followed those ripples, eyes closed. The cold burst in gusts, with the heat of a fire behind him. He wasn’t sure how long had passed but he blinked awake to scritching and scratching, a sigh and crack of bones to weary and worn. And the faint ache for lyrium. It grounded him and uplifted him. He wasn’t drowning anymore. Not now. Not here. Not...for now.</p><p>Until he was. </p><p>He woke gasping, gripping, and grabbing. Limbs wild, hair sweat drenched, and throat clenched for air.</p><p>“Breathe.” Cullen’s voice was commanding, clear, comforting.</p><p>His presence at Cole’s back was stabilizing - grounding as Cole flailed against the sinking suffocation of shadows, between whats real and whats not.</p><p>“Listen to me.” Cullen gripped him closer.  He teetered on the edge of fainting freely whilst chained into what he was not anymore until he fell.</p><p>“I’ve got you, you won’t fall.” Cullen’s voice softened, yet remained stern against his ear.</p><p>Cole didn’t remember saying he would fall. He screwed his eyes shut, reaching for purchase - for a hold and found warmth - a body, strong and steady -naked and clammy. Cullen’s breath in his ear was harsh as they shivered - embracing the numb of cold.</p><p>A tickle of despair, of fear laced in memories of a faint distant tower - of a barrier and images.</p><p>“Don’t.” Cullen seethed.</p><p>“I...can help...” Cole whined.</p><p>“I’m trying to help you.” Cullen pushed him down, gaze fierce and disappointed and gutting Cole under it.  It swirled around him, dragging him further down.</p><p>“Touch...” Cole whimpered, desperate for the silence, for the storm of everything to go away; to find solitude somewhere.</p><p>“You...want me...to touch you?”</p><p>“<b>Please</b>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Saw someone getting hate for writing cole smut on tumblr.   So I decided to respond in spite to them - in my own way.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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